2017 Nike Award Winner

The results of the 2017 Nike Award were announced during the closing banquet of the 2017 Footwear Biomechanics Symposium in Gold Coast, Australia. During the special Nike Award session which ended the scientific presentations at the conference, the two finalists gave their 15-minute presentation of their research which focused on advancements in footwear research.

While both presentations were of high quality and well received by the audience, following a question period by the footwear community in attendance, the Nike Award committee members voted on a winner. Judging was based both on the oral presentation in addition to the finalist's full paper that was submitted and reviewed four months earlier. After a close competition, the 2017 Nike Award was presented to:

Bodil Oudshoorn – Development of a test method to assess the laceration injury risk of studded footwear

The study describes a new test method which was developed based on biomechanical assessment of laceration injuries occurring in rugby union. A questionnaire (N=191) among rugby players identified stamping in the ruck as the most common injury scenario for lacerations resulting from stud-skin contact. This injury scenario was replicated in the lab, where participants were asked to form a ruck and stamp on a dummy player. Kinetics and kinematics of these stamping impacts were measured and used to inform the development of a mechanical test method for testing laceration injury risk of individual stud designs. The test method presented in this study used a two-phase test approach, replicating the initial impact phase and a subsequent raking phase of rugby stamping impacts. A stud is tested by impacting a skin simulant and subsequently assessing the wound damage. This damage was quantified using a 3-D scan of the skin simulant which was used to calculate wound volume and wound surface area. A follow-up study will use this test method to quantify the laceration injury risk of a range of commercially available stud designs.

In winning the Nike Award, the paper will be featured in an upcoming issue of Footwear Science, in addition to the author received a $20,000 US prize from Nike and the official Nike Award statue. The Footwear Biomechanics Group would like to thank Dr. Matt Nurse, Dr. Ray Browning and Nike for their continued support of the group and conferences in addition of the continuation of the Nike Award for the 2019 Footwear Biomechanics Symposium in Kananaskis, Canada. Details on the next award will be posted in the near future.